Over 450 participants among which scientists and practitioners working in related fields, from 111 countries and all geographical regions gathered together for the Global Symposium on Soil Organic Carbon, held from 21 to 23 March 2017 at FAO headquarters in Rome. They were actively involved in both presenting results of studies demonstrating the potential and challenges of managing SOC in different types of soil – such as peatland, black soils and permafrost soils, grasslands and livestock production system and dryland soils - as well as discussing and developing key messages. A participatory and reciprocal process of communicating scientific results, refining research questions, identifying knowledge gaps and defies/(delate) challenges for implementation were nurtured by integrating a broad range of relevant stakeholders. The meeting highlighted the multiple benefits related to maintenance and increase of SOC stocks such as food security and nutrition, poverty reduction, climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as achieving Land Degradation Neutrality and the Sustainable Development Goals. A book on the Proceedings of the Global Symposium on Soil Organic Carbon 2017 is available to download.
The Proceedings of the Global Symposium on Soil Organic Carbon 2017 (GSOC17) presents the abstracts of all scientific presentations held during the GSOC17. 103 oral presentations and 35 poster presentations built the core of this event triggering fruitful discussions on the state-of-science in measuring, preserving and enhancing soil organic carbon in different soils of the world. The GSOC17 took place from 21 to 23 March at FAO Headquarters and was structured in three themes: Theme 1: Monitoring, mapping, measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) of SOC Theme 2: Maintaining and/or increasing SOC stocks for climate change mitigation and adaptation Theme 3 - Managing SOC in soils with high SOC - peatlands, permafrost, and black soils; in grasslands, and livestock production systems; and in dryland soils